Travel with kids — We love traveling with our toddler no matter if we have to pack more than we used to or even if we know we’ll get stressed out some days due to his tantrums. Now that the world has loosened up, I’ll be sharing more family travel tips as we show our son the world.
Even if we know meltdowns are unavoidable, the benefits of traveling with a baby (yes, my son will forever be our baby!) outweigh any hardships we might encounter along the way. Plus, seeing his delighted face upon learning new things is always a joy!
Take for example when we went to the zoo with him, he learned so many new things he couldn’t have when going to the malls. Going to theme parks is also another thing we want our son to experience.
Here are some of the learnings our son got during his travels! (And more reasons why traveling with family is better instead of leaving your children at home. Hihi)
Explore other food
While we may have imitations of other cuisines, it’s a different story when you try them where they originated. It’s great to try other kinds of food other than his favorite fried chicken! Even though he didn’t like some of the food we ate, what matters is that he had a taste of them.
However, I don’t practice forcing my son to eat when he doesn’t like to lessen the chances of him becoming a picky eater. I will just let him try and if he doesn’t like it, I’ll try again some other time.
Adapt to changes (weather and train)
Here in the Philippines, we only have 2 seasons: summer and rainy. And when we went to Japan (which I believe is one of the best countries to travel with kids), my son experienced snow for the first time.
And since it was the transition from winter to spring, we had to wear bubble jackets to keep us warm.
We also traveled mostly via train so it was also his first time commuting. He had fun imitating us standing when there were no seats available. And he also had fun waiting for the trains to arrive.
Adapting to changes in our lives is not an easy thing to do. And when you do international travel with kids, you are allowing your child to learn how to handle unexpected changes from her normal life.
Enhance social skills
When we visited TeamLab Planets Tokyo, our son had a great time playing with other visitors in one section. Going places has helped our son become a little bit sociable and it’s a great chance to teach him how to treat others correctly.
At the same time, being able to interact with others allows him to learn about other people. When you travel with kids, you introduce them to people, other than their relatives, to prepare them for schooling.
Learn to be patient
During our trip to Japan, we rode trains to reach places most of the time. Japan is very strict when it comes to maintaining cleanliness because they don’t allow passengers to eat or even be noisy when riding the train.
And my son had to wait until we got off before he could eat even though he was starving. I knew it was hard for him to understand, but by doing so, you are teaching him that there are rules that need to be followed regardless of what we are feeling.
One of the best travel tips with a toddler is to feed your child whenever given the chance because you never know when you have to wait long before they can eat.
For example, when flying with a 3-year-old, ensure that you have snacks on hand because it’s one of the most effective ways of preventing tantrums when you travel with kids. Trust me!
Better family relationships
Although not every day is a sunny day when traveling with a young child, we find that one of the benefits of traveling with family is better relationships with one another. We might fight and annoy one another on some days (or almost every day!), but we come home happier and stronger together than ever.
Learning and experiencing new things is a great way to make your family bond stronger. Other than that, one of our family travel goals is to be able to reminisce in a few years.
So make sure to take lots of photos when traveling with a family to remind you about the most memorable experiences during your travel.
Learn about other cultures
Just like how I mentioned my son has learned how to be patient by waiting for the right time to eat, and he has learned that you cannot be noisy when you ride trains in Japan.
During the first few times, we had to remind him to lower his voice when talking inside the trains. However, as the days went by and he got used to the rule, he knew when he had to be quiet. Well, an exemption was those few moments when he was already cranky from tiredness.
Travel mom tips: A travel with baby essentials is to bring toys that would interest your child. I always prepare a new toy, an old favorite toy, and some others that I think would interest my child.
This is one of the most useful travel tips I saw on social media, so if you your planning a trip with a toddler, ensure that toys are a part of your kids’ travel accessories!
See the beauty of the world
It’s amazing how beautiful the world is and it’s such a waste to not let our son see them. So, traveling the world with a toddler might not be the easiest thing to do, but we will make sure that our son gets to enjoy his childhood by bringing him to places.
God created the sun, animals, nature, mountains, and everything else with different kinds of beauty. So, whenever given the chance, we want our son to experience them starting at a very young age.
Exposed to different kinds of people
My son loves seeing children and he couldn’t help but silently watch them. We saw a group of 2 adults and 3 kids on the train one time and he watched their actions intently. Oftentimes, he watches other people do their stuff seemingly trying to learn something from them.
Being exposed to different kinds of people can help children learn more about their differences. It helps them to become more sensitive to other people’s needs. Further, it shows children (and even adults) that there’s more to learn outside of their comfort zone.
Seeing the excitement on his face
One of the benefits of traveling as a child is that you don’t have to worry about anything. Best of all, no schooling yet because you are still underage. While I plan to homeschool my son, once it starts, it might affect our travels, so better to start now.
As a child, all you have to do is to enjoy every moment while your adults do the packing and unpacking. And it’s a wonderful sight seeing my son get excited when he sees me opening the luggage and filling it with our stuff.
Grow curiosity
You should include zoo and sanctuary visits to your family travel checklist because it’s one of the essential baby travel tips for parents. No matter if you travel with child abroad or just domestically, your child with learn a lot!
We are fascinated by how his curiosity grows in everything that he encounters outside our home.
He excitedly walked, ran, and brushed his shoes on rocky roads. A bird flew near him and he kept looking at it with a curious face. He watched large animals move slowly in their areas and checked out different colored fishes in the aquarium.
Seeing my toddler get curious about everything makes me want to travel with him every day! I know it’s hard and tiring, but at the end of the day, what matters is that he is living his life to the fullest.
My final thoughts about why you should travel with kids
If you are still not yet convinced and are still asking, “Why is it important to travel at a young age?,” I’m already speechless. Besides all the things I wrote, I believe there are many advantages with you travel with kids.
Do you think you should bring young children to travel? Why and why not? Let me know your answers in the comments section!
